Request to buy this photoBrooke LaValley | DispatchAnthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, performs with the band in Value City Arena. The band, known for hit songs such as Californication, performed last night.

For a band whose frontmen are pushing 50, the Red Hot Chili Peppers didn’t display much mild
behavior last night.

Drummer Chad Smith swung from a spherical cluster of stage lights (while wearing a University of
Michigan ball cap, bravely, to boot). Bassist Michael “Flea” Balzary walked on his hands when he
wasn’t pounding out rhythms, his torso and buzzed skull in a spastic, puckish flail.

Singer Anthony Kiedis, shirtless and sporting a hipster mustache, spun and hopped about in pants
with one leg ripped short to expose the same kind of striped tube sock the 49-year-old funk-rocker
and his once-naked colleagues used to hang on their groins.

Even Josh Klinghoffer, a recent replacement for the group’s twice-departed guitarist John
Frusciante — and nearly two decades the younger — was at full throttle, thrashing alongside his
ageless elders.

Yet the jokester stage antics were merely a compliment, not a distraction, to the ensemble’s
sturdy, time-tested catalog (yep, it’s been more than a decade since Californication and 23 years
since a cover of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground) that has endured despite time and infinite radio
spins.

Although their punkish, low-rent origins are long gone, the group’s songs continue to share a
connected — albeit mellowed — sensibility that recalls a distinct time and place. A high-tech video
wall that spanned the stage as well as hanging screens reinforced the status upgrade resulting from
30-plus years in the business.

The Chili Peppers, after all, were among the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

At about two hours, the Value City Arena show played out like a greatest-hits compilation, with
nary a filler tune slowing the momentum. Newer tracks
Can’t Stop, Dani California and
Otherside meshed comfortably among early fare, including ballads
Soul to Squeeze and
Under the Bridge.

A huge cheer — of course — came during the 1999 thumper
Around the World, whose spoken-word lyrics include
Freer than a bird / Cause we’re rockin’ Oh-hi-o.

Only a couple of tracks from the band’s 10th and latest release,
I’m With You, were featured, including low-key opener
Monarchy of Roses and adequately funky
Look Around.

Kiedis made little conversation with the crowd, leaving minimal banter to a howling Flea — who
made mention of past drummer Cliff Martinez’s Columbus roots. Impromptu-style instrumental breaks
provided extended fills in between many of the songs, meanwhile, offering a perspective beyond
Chili Peppers records.

The 1991 song
Give It Away, the band’s first No. 1 single, closed the night with proper heat.